TikTok’s looking to take a stronger stance against climate change misinformation, with the platform recently outlawing all content that ‘undermines well-established scientific consensus’ about climate change and its impacts.

TikTok’s Payback

The update moves the app into line with Pinterest and Twitter in outlawing climate change denial, as Social Media platforms look to do their part to maximize awareness and action, where possible. As TikTok puts it:

“On April 21, we will begin to ramp up enforcement of a new climate change misinformation policy which removes climate change misinformation that undermines well-established scientific consensus, such as content denying the existence of climate change or the factors that contribute to it. As we do for all misinformation policies, we will work with independent fact-checking partners when applying this policy to help assess the accuracy of content.”

Climate change denial is still a common focus of online discussion, with some major publications fueling the belief that the threat of climate change has been overblown for political means. Facebook also hasn’t banned climate denial content, and still facilitates the distribution of such, helping amplify queries.

Given the role that social apps play in the distribution of news and information, it’s important that they also take responsibility in this respect. While some will also see it as a violation of free speech, there are cases where the public good must also factor into such decisions. And really, where scientific consensus is involved, it’s not a matter of opinion, or ‘doing your own research’ on the subject.

Then again, the same could be applied to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has been the subject of Twitter’s ‘Twitter Files’ expose into government meddling in content moderation within social apps. In that case, the scientific consensus was that COVID denialism could potentially limit take-up of the vaccine, along with fear-mongering about potential side effects. However, now, the Twitter files purport to show how the government has interfered with free speech to push its own agenda.

The Wrap

Regardless of personal views, most social platforms now work with advice from experts and even government officials to evolve their processes in line with the need. Broader bans on climate denial help in this respect, while TikTok also notes that it will redirect users who look up climate content toward its internal climate information center, created in partnership with the UN. The announcement comes as part of its Earth Month programming, which will also see it host a range of other activations and events.

Sources

https://bit.ly/3N13XDD